Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
is the only Australian order of chivalry. It was established on 14 February 1975 by
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, Queen of Australia, to recognise Australian citizens and other persons for achievement, meritorious service, or for both. At that time, Companion of the Order of Australia was the highest of three grades of the Order (Companion, Officer, Member).
On 24 May 1976, the grade of Knight or Dame of the Order was established, displacing Companion as the highest grade. On 3 June 1986, the Knight/Dame grade was abolished, and Companion was once again the highest grade.
On 25 March 2014, the Knight/Dame grade was re-established, Companion once again being relegated to the second highest grade of the Order. The Knight/Dame grade was again abolished on 2 November 2015.
Divisions
The Order has two divisions; General and Military. In general, recipients who are not Australian citizens are appointed Honorary Companions, though there have been certain exceptions. (For example, Prince Philip's appointment as AC (mil.) was substantive.1988 Queen's Birthday Honours , 13 June 1988, Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, Special Issue No. S159, pg.1)
Quentin Bryce
Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, (née Strachan; born 23 December 1942) is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position, and was previously the ...
, Sir
Peter Cosgrove
General (Australia), General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019.
A graduate of the Royal Military College, ...
, Dame
Marie Bashir
Dame Marie Roslyn Bashir (born 1 December 1930) is the former and second longest-serving Governor of New South Wales. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positio ...
, Sir
Angus Houston
Air Chief Marshal Sir Allan Grant "Angus" Houston, (born 9 June 1947) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of Air Force from 20 June 2001 and then as the Chief of the Defence Force from 4 July 20 ...
and
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
.
Australian Companions
General Division
Military Division
Honorary Companions
Former Companions
Announcements of appointments of Companions
A list of links to announcements of all awards appears on the Governor-General's website.
:Gen = General Division; Mil = Military Division; Hon = Honorary award; Tot = Total
, -
, , , , , 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia) , , 1 , , 389 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 450
QB 2013
José Ramos-Horta
José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of For ...
Sir John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bot ...
2019 Australia Day Honours
The 2019 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2019 by the Governor General of Australia, Pet ...
Fact sheet
* From th Advanced search page, it is possible to produce a list of all recipients that appear in the Australian Honours Search Facility database).
**In March 2014, there were 457 entries in the database.
**In December 2016 there were 501 entries in the database. (Versus 08 awarded minus 3 resigned minus 1 cancelled= 504, minus 3 not in the database = 501)
**In September 2017 there were 512 entries in the database. (519-4=515, minus 3 = 512)
**The list does not necessarily show all recipients of the Companion of the Order of Australia, as some awardees of Australian honours elect ''not'' to have their names appear on the Australian Honours Search Facility website.
**The database information does not distinguish between the General and Military divisions, nor whether the award is honorary or substantive.
**Note, however, that honorary recipients are denoted by H next to their name in the search function.
* As stated above, awards to foreigners are usually honorary, and to date, all awards to foreign Companions in the General division have been honorary. The only exception to this has been Prince Philip's appointment as AC (mil). To date there have been no Honorary Companion appointments to the Military division. This has not necessarily been the case in other grades. (For example, US General David Petraeus AO (mil) is honorary,David Petraeus - Honorary Officer (AO) in the Military Division , 3 November 2009, Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, Special Issue No. S172 and Prince Charles and Prince Philip's substantive knighthoods (AK) were enabled by changes to the Letters Patent.)